Abstract painting explained – Part 4

Art in general is representational or abstract, representational pictures are pictures which you can know what it means from a look at like a picture in your kid’s story an abstract painting is the one where you can’t know what it means instantly.

If we want to define Abstract Art we can say it’s abstracting everything that surrounds from its real form to a new form using colours, shapes & your imagination to describe it.

Abstract art is a high level painting technique which depends on artist’s deep thinking and deepest feelings and also depends on the viewer’s understanding to what the painting say.

“We have to accustom the eye to listen to the painting” Paul Kelly.

There were abstract movements established like: Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Neoplasticism, Dadaism, Surrealism..etc. then in the 20th century art Abstract Expressionism was established , and this one was interested in not only the paint but how it’s painted , the material that was used in the painting from colours, papers, toolsetc. which means the overall painting process. Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956), Arshile Gorky (Armenian-American, 1904-1948), Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962), Mark Rothko (Russian-American, 1903-1970) are names that must be mentioned when talking about abstract art of this move.

A very well known example nowadays for abstract art are patterns created by graphic designers, most of the patterns are collection of colours and shapes forming a beautiful piece of art that can be repeated to create a prettier background for cloth, wall, …etc.

How to paint it?

The truth is that you have no rules to follow for painting such art, Which is the good thing about it yet a bad thing, it’s good to have no rules bounding you from doing what you want but the bad thing is that you have nothing to follow but your mind, creativity and imagination. Those are the only tools that will guide you, A one piece of advice you can take is reading more about this art and seeing other painters work and what their pictures means that will help you a lot in your path to being professional abstract art painter. So you can just get a piece of paper and brush and start to output everything you have. But always remember is as easy as it may seems as hard as it is, As abstract art is considered one of the most difficult arts as it requires a lot of concentration and a high sense of colours& shapes mixing to get to your point.

Art history: Understanding abstract expressionism – Part 1

Abstract expressionism, an American Art movement that sprang up in the wake of World War II, is one of the most misunderstood and ridiculed of all the styles of art; “It looks like a child could’ve painted that!” is one response that I’ve heard from several of my less cultured friends, upon seeing a particular Abstract Expressionist masterpiece for the first time. However, snooty, artsy types like myself recognize the amount of talent and ability that it took for Jackson Pollock to get belligerently drunk on wine and drip several colors of paint haphazardly across a giant canvas.

Well, okay, maybe it didn’t take a whole lot of ability for Jackson Pollock to drizzle the paint, but it did take some creative thought and innovation. Immortalized in the year 2000 film, “Pollock”, he is undoubtedly the most recognized Abstract Expressionist painter.

Abstract Expressionism was not about technical ability. In fact, the Abstract Expressionists sought to abandon representation altogether. Where Impressionism has blurred lines, and Cubism has fractured picture planes, there is no cohesive look to Abstract Expressionist works, except for the fact that they are not depicting any specific thing. Part of this is due to the artists wanting to avoid dialog on the heavy political climate of the time, for fear of government persecution.

Whereas anyone can easily feel the friendly warmth of the Mona Lisa’s slight smile, or gaze deeply into Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, the Abstract Expressionists challenged themselves to communicate feelings and emotions with only combinations of colors. In Abstract Expressionism, there was no subject to be painted; The painting itself was the subject.

Another Abstract Expressionist painter, who is more up my alley, is Mark Rothko. Rothko is notable for his large paintings consisting of, basically, two rectangles of differing colors, such as maroon butted up against a block of black, or orange laid on top of yellow. In actuality, the pictures are very painterly, without the clean edges of some earlier minimalist styles such as “De Stijl”; In the brushstrokes the colors mix together, but, essentially, the paintings are two colors.

Other important Abstract Expressionists include Willem De Kooning, Mark Tobey, and Franz Kline, to name but a few.